The White Key: Trials of the Heart
by Zoneshifter D
Summary: The end of one world. The adventure of a lifetime. Unlikely allies. One girl must discover that the greatest weapon lies within her heart, or lose everything to the darkness.
1. Prologue: Arrival

**Prologue: Arrival**

"Hey, are you alright, hey…"

"Who do you think she is?"

"She has a fever; come on, let's get her inside."

She could hear the voices, but she just couldn't open her eyes to see who was talking. Not that it would have mattered much. It hurt. Her body hurt all over. Trying to think about anything also hurt. All she did, all she could do was listening. Listening and waiting. She felt herself being moved, probably by the owners of the voices. She didn't know those voices, didn't know who the ones they belonged to looked like, but she couldn't move. Her body just wasn't responding. She was at the mercy of the owners of the voices.

Instead of feeling restrained, or any of the horrible things that popped into her nightmares on occasion, she felt herself being laid on something that was a bit comfortable. Something wet and cool was put on her forehead. The voices were talking again, but she couldn't make out the words. Seconds later, she was completely unconscious.

Rest was fitful at best.

* * *

Hayner, Pence, and Olette had to deal with their fair share of strangeness once in a while, capping off with getting involved with Sora's adventures that one time, but things were never really quite normal in their town if you knew where to look. Well, the self appointed Disciplinary Committee was still as annoying as ever. That was a very unwelcome constant in their lives. Still, them finding a strange girl they hadn't seen before unconscious in the tunnels underneath the town, while on the way totheir Usual Spot to hang out wasn't as strange as seeing Nobodies, but it was all the more worrisome. Hayner and Pence helped pick her up from the ground and brought her quickly inside the Spot, putting her in the small couch they had inside. She had a very high fever, and her skin was moist with sweat. The two boys left to get some medicine and maybe some ice or at least something with water and a towel they could use, much to her insistence, leaving Olette alone with the strange girl, sitting next to the small couch. Although she did want to keep an eye on her, part of it was because she wanted to be away from her friends after Pence innocently suggested that they had to take the girl's shirt off to help her cool down. She knew the chubby boy well enough to understand he wasn't really being a pervert, but it was still embarrassing for her. It didn't help that the girl didn't seem that much younger than they were, especially since she seemed to be… developing… like Olette was. The brown haired girl then shook her head at the ridiculous track her thoughts had taken.

"What's taking those two?" Olette asked out loud, even if the only other person around wasn't conscious enough to hear. With nothing better to do, Olette looked at their guest. She had rather short cropped dark hair that let part of the bangs grow longer than the rest, framing her face. She was wearing a long sleeved light blue shirt, black pants that reached just above her ankles, and a pair of dark blue sandals of a design she couldn't remember seeing before. Her pale skin was flushed due to her high fever, which made her wonder how she got there if she was that sick. The strangest thing was the red-orange orb she was holding in her left hand, not letting go even in unconsciousness.

The unconscious girl seemed to be much stronger than her delicate appearance suggested, as she was holding the orb in a vice like grip. Olette had tried to get the object free, but try as she might, the hand wouldn't budge a millimeter. She gave up on that quickly enough when the… gem (?) started getting hot all of a sudden, making her pull her hand away as if she had been bitten. Olette wondered if Hayner and Pence would probably try themselves once they noticed the orb in the girl's hand.

She wondered if the orb had glowed when it started getting hot. At the moment, she didn't know what to make of it, or the person who didn't seem to want to let go even if asleep. Or maybe… it was the gem that didn't want to let go of the girl? Olette got up from the arm of the couch where she was seating and smoothed her shirt and pants up a bit, before she started pacing around impatiently.

'_Those two probably ran into Seifer's gang or something' _she thought with some concern. Looking back at the couch's current occupant, Olette then became a bit more relieved to see the unknown girl was actually looking a bit better. She walked to the couch and knelt beside it, putting her hand to the girl's brow. She still had a bit of a temperature. Olette was going to have some words with her friends if they actually got there after the fever completely disappeared.

At that moment, the strange girl began stirring on the couch. It seemed as if Olette was going to give an earful to those two after all.

She couldn't remember the last time she had this much trouble waking up. She couldn't even remember falling asleep. The last thing she did remember… the things that happened… Were, were they just a dream? What happened? Where was she? Where was…?

She sat up unsteadily in her… bed? Was she back in the hospital? No, it didn't feel at all like a hospital bed. When she rubbed her eyes, she was surprised when her mind cleared enough to notice the weight of a small, foreign object in her hand. Opening her eyes, not only did she finally appreciate the gem she now held in the palm of her hand, but that she was laying on an old couch, inside of a room with ann eclectic assortment of objects stored inside. There was even a well used dartboard by a wall, but that wasn't what drew the most attention right now. No, it was the girl with dark brown hair dressed in an orange sleeveless shirt with some white floral print and beige pants that was there in the room with her.

"Who-who are you?" she asked in an incredibly timid voiced. "W-where… am…" then she backed away frantically, crab-walking backwards on the couch. Her head dashed all over the place to try and find something that was recognizable or someone she knew. She did not recognize a thing, and in the recesses of her mind, she feared that someone had captured her for her bloodline again. But before she could rationally process that thought-like why she was on a couch and not confined in any way-she approached the end of the old piece of furniture and promptly fell head first on the floor, with her legs dangling helplessly in the air. Her eyes lost whatever focus they had in favor of a nice collection of bright, sparkling stars.

Olette didn't waste much time in getting to the girl and trying to help her back on her feet and into the couch again. "Are you alright?" she asked, feeling rather silly after asking such a stupid question. After all, she just saw the younger girl freak out and fall on her head and she asked if she was alright?

"I-I… I don't know," the girl replied, holding her head in the spot she landed on. Olette put her hand to the girl's brow again to check her temperature once more, and resolved to get a first aid kit with a thermometer later for the Usual Spot. She still felt a bit warmer than she should be, but wasn't really burning up. Where were Hayner and Pence?

It's amazing how being worried can make things seem slower than they really wer. Had Olette a wristwatch or some other time piece available, she'd have noticed that not even 10 minutes had passed from when Hayner and Pence had left.

"Who…who are you?" the dark haired girl asked Olette once more. This time, however, Olette was close enough to actually see the eyes of the other girl. They were pale, very pale colored. They seemed to be a soft lavender shade that she was fairly certain a human's eyes shouldn't be. For that matter, where were her pupils? Olette couldn't keep from having a sharp intake of breath in surprise when she saw that the girl could have been blind. Immediately, the pale-eyed girl faced away from Olette, her body tightening up a bit as she began rubbing her shoulders anxiously, as if to fight off a rash. Her eyes cast downwards as if there was a bug on the floor, yet there wasn't any.

She then spoke in the softest voice Olette had ever heard and was so surprised by it she missed what the girl said in the first place. "I'm… sorry… what did you say?"

"I-I-I… I'm so sorry!" the pale-eyed girl spoke louder this time, in a guilty sounding voice that only made Olette feel even worse.

"No, no, it's okay, you didn't do anything wrong," the brown haired girl said, trying to comfort the girl with the weird eyes, but she just stiffened when Olette brought a hand to rest on her shoulder. '_What was wrong with this girl?'_ she thought. Then, she shook her head and took the reins of the conversation and introduced herself, hoping for a better response. "My name is Olette. What's your name?"

The girl turned to face Olette, looking straight to her eyes ('_wasn't she blind at all?'_) and answered. "My… my name is Hinata. Where-where am I?"

"Hinata? What a nice name," said Ollette to Hinata, showing a friendly smile to the timid girl, who averted her eyes again. Olette still didn't know what to make of her behavior yet, but thought nothing more of it for now, worrying about her friends, Pence and Hayner. Were those two ever going to show up at all? Hinata looked at her with some concern, which meant that Olette had let he worry show. "Oh, sorry, I was waiting for some friends of mine while you were asleep. We found you in the tunnels under the town and brought you here. They left to get some stuff for you."

"Tunnels?...? Hinata asked, her confusion evident in her face. Tunnels under the town? She couldn't remember any such tunnels underneath her town. Even if there were, she couldn't remember being there in the first place.

"Yeah, the Underground Concourse of Twilight Town. That's where we found you." Immediately, Hinata's face changed to one of horror.

"Twilight Town?" she yelled. Then, she got up from the couch and ran outside before Olette could stop her, not letting up her pace even when she stumbled a bit and hit her shoulder on the border of the gate at the opening, past the piece of red tarp they used as a door. Nor did she stop when she bumped into Hayner and Pence.

"Hinata, wait!" Olette yelled, going after the girl.

"Olette, what-?" Pence started to say but Olette interrupted him.

"We have to go after her! Come one, you guys!"she said, barely stopping to look back to her friends. The two boys followed after her.

"This is your fault, Pence! If we hadn't stopped by your house to get your mom's ice bag-" Hayner said to his chubby friend.

"Well what were we supposed to use, then? A zipper bag?" Pence defended himself. "We needed something to hold the ice on her forehead!"

"Whatever, Pence, let's just find her before she hurts herself" and with that, Hayner and Pence tried going even faster to catch up with the two girls. _'Man, but she's faster than she looks!_'He thought.

They never noticed the figure following them.

* * *

They caught up to Olette at the Tramway, along with Hinata, who was looking all around her, the buildings, the streets, and the people all around her, with an expression of total despair on her face. If the trio was worried for the girl already, their unease increased with the way she was hyperventilating. Hinata then started wobbling on the spot. She swayed unsteadily until she finally dropped to her knees. Hayner, Pence and Olette dashed towards the girl as she started coughing and collapsed completely on the ground.

The small orb Hinata had been holding all throughout her desperate run fell on the ground and rolled like an ordinary marble.

Hayner crouched next to the girl and propped her up. "Hey, is that blood?" he noted when he saw the stuff on the edge of her lips.

"Oh no, we have to get Hinata to a doctor!" Olette exclaimed worriedly.

"Let's get her out of here first. Come on," and with that, Hayner picked up the smaller girl and carried her in his arms. He might have gotten farther had he not slipped on the orb. Fortunately, Hinata didn't hit the ground. Unfortunately, Hayner did. And so Pence and Olette now had two unconscious people to take care of…

Good things some of the bystanders decided to help the kids.

* * *

In the commotion, no one noticed him. Perfect. He had a mission to do for his master, an important one. He couldn't afford to be discovered at all. The… new arrival… seemed to require some help. He'd have to do something about that quickly. But first, he needed to make sure no one took what the girl dropped on the ground.

It would be… very inconvenient if it feel into the wrong hands, after all. At least, that's what he thought, seeing as he had no idea what the orb was for in the first place. Oh well. It was time to resume his mission. He had no intention of making his master angry.

**WHITE KEY:**

**Trials of the Heart **

_A new player has arrived, and the adventure of a lifetime begins. Yet the seeming frailty of Hinata might hold more beneath the surface._


	2. End at the Beggining

**Disclaimer: I don't own either of the Naruto or Kingdom Hearts franchises, Shounen Jump and SquareEnix do.**

**Chapter 1: I don't think we are in Konoha anymore**

Today was the day of the Chuunin exams finals. It was the day many genin had hoped would lead to their promotions to the rank of Chuunin. Hyuuga Hinata, however, was not among them.

One month ago, it was decided that preliminary matches were to be held in order to minimize the supposedly large amount of finalists so that the finals wouldn't be needlessly lengthy in order to accommodate for the visiting dignitaries. A set of random matches were performed among the winners of the second stage of the exams. Her own teammate, Inuzuka Kiba, had to fight against the one person no one but herself ever thought would ever make it as far as he did. His name was Uzumaki Naruto, a boy who dreamed of being Hokage, even when others thought of him as nothing more than a washout or a fool who shouldn't have become a ninja in the first place. But Hinata knew better.

She knew how hard he worked. She knew of his immense determination. She also knew that although Kiba was her teammate, he needed to see that he, just like everyone else, was wrong about Naruto being nothing but a fool and a loser. Regrettably, one way for her boisterous and hard headed teammate might learn that lesson in a situation such as an official match between him and Naruto would be for him to be defeated at Naruto's hand. As it was, she was still torn about whom she should support, her teammate, or Naruto.

Kiba did dominate a good part of the fight, so his boasts that it would be an easy battle for him and his ninja hound, the puppy Akamaru seemed to have some weight to them. But her team had been avoiding unnecessary battles throughout the exams, while it seemed that Naruto's team did not have the same luck. It looked like the 'easy battle' would be won because Kiba's opponent appeared to have a handicap, due to not being able to avoid any conflict before arriving at the tower, while her own team was relatively fresh. But she knew it wouldn't be so simple, or predictable.

It was Naruto who won, pulling an upset victory against all odds, and in spite of everyone else's beliefs. Despite Kiba's boasts that it would be an easy win and his cruel taunts about becoming Hokage instead of Naruto, it was him and Akamaru that were the ones lying prone on the floor at the end of the fight. Her teammate and his dog were the ones leaving the Arena in stretchers, while Naruto stood as the victor. She hoped that Kiba wasn't hurt too badly, however.

Kiba would later stew over being robbed of his victory due to a fluke. Regardless of the… unfortunate (for Kiba) way by which Naruto had gained the window of opportunity he used to perform his finishing move, the "Uzumaki Naruto Rendan", Hinata had no doubt that Naruto earned his victory.

Oh, how she could have liked to congratulate him out loud when he came back up to the observation area. But when he made his way up to her, she could barely even look him in the eye and give him some ointment.

And then the fight with her cousin, Hyuuga Neji, happened.

Before, from his place in the stretcher, Kiba had asked her not to fight her cousin, to quit rather than face Neji, or the monstrous Gaara from the Hidden Sand Village, who they saw brutally dispatch a team of genin from the Hidden Rain Village in a horrendous manner that would haunt them for a long time. It was sound advice. She knew firsthand how strong Neji was. He was only a year older than her and yet the difference in their skills made her feel as if she were but a mouse going against a tiger at times. And now she was going to face him.

Neji's words, those scathing words, bringing her every shortcoming and failure to light, an attempt to make her admit to her inferiority to the Hyuuga Genius, and concede the match to him. It almost succeeded. She remembered being in such a state of panic she started hyperventilating on the spot, maybe embarrassing herself further in front of everyone watching, but she couldn't even perceive anything other than herself and her cousin at that moment. No, Hinata could only perceive how small and weak she felt in front of Neji, her thoughts and emotions running around her head in seemingly chaotic disarray in response to his words. And then Naruto spoke out.

When she was about to give up, Naruto cheered for her. While many thought that she would quit, Naruto believed she could win. Where Neji expected her to slink away in fear, Naruto wanted her to fight. So she fought. She fought against her fears. She fought against her cousin's condemning words. Naruto supported her, stood up for her, and was looking at her at last. She could not let him down.

She tried her very hardest. But Neji proved to be too much for her. Her final words to him before she collapsed to the arena floor… she had hoped they would reach him, make him realize that she understood his pain. But that didn't work. The last thing she remembered seeing before she passed out from the pain of her injuries were Naruto's blue eyes looking at her with concern. And today, that same Naruto was facing her cousin, Neji. The same person she couldn't defeat.

For all her faith in Naruto, Hinata couldn't help but worry about the outcome of their fight. She knew Naruto was strong, but Neji was in a whole other class. And with his skills in the style of their clan, Neji could kill Naruto with little effort.

She was waiting for Kiba at one of the training grounds. They were going to sit together at the stadium where the finals where taking place. It had started as a very sunny day, but very soon the clouds blanketed the skies in grey. The chilly breeze blew through her short bangs, and Hinata idly wondered if she should have brought her jacket this day instead of the more casual clothing she had on right now. She turned around when she heard someone approaching, expecting Kiba and Akamaru. She all but gasped when she found Naruto instead.

What happened next wasn't quite like any of her fantasies, but it was still more than she ever hoped would happen.

To think _Naruto,_ of all people, was unsure of his chances in his own match. And this time, this one time, it was Hinata who made his insecurities go away. Later, she might wonder how she found the courage to speak with him like she did. Maybe then, she could discover how to keep it for much longer (Hinata snuck behind a wooden post again when her limited courage failed her). When Naruto , was leaving, his confidence restored, he was about to say something to Hinata.

And then everything went wrong.

The breeze became the howling wind of a storm. The graying skies darkened, thunder and lightning joined in with the cacophony of the storm winds. The earth shook violently. And it was then, as the world seemed to be breaking apart, that a scream was heard. Later, Hinata would wonder if the scream came from the world itself or from her own mouth. As the earthquake intensified, so did the winds. Hinata lost her footing at last, falling face first into the ground. The quaking had stopped, but the howling winds seemed to only pick up in strength instead. When she got back up, she saw in horror that the world was really breaking apart.

All around her, the landscape was heaved into the air, huge chunks at a time, like someone cutting up the world and taking it all away piece by piece. Dirt, grass, and even destroyed buildings could be seen tossed and carried away, as if they were nothing but mere leaves in the wind. The Horrors, however, didn't end at the impossible being unveiled before her, for the Hinata saw that she herself was atop one of the smaller pieces of the landscape floating among the howling winds.

She found herself paralyzed on the spot where she lay. Desperately, she wished that this wasn't actually happening, that it was nothing more than one of her hopeless nightmares. That she was still in her hospital bed after her defeat and humiliation to her cousin. That the world wasn't ending around her. But try as she might, the Hyuuga outcast couldn't deny the truth, that the nightmare was very much real.

_Where is Naruto?_

That single thought brought her out of her despair induced stupor. The boy wasn't standing that far away from herself. Her fears and worries were pushed to the side ruthlessly with concern for Naruto. "BYAKUGAN!" Hinata activated her special eyes with the quickest activation hand seal sequence she had ever performed in her life, not taking notice of it or even mentally berating herself for being incapable of activating them at will just yet, like her cousin Neji and her father. Looking around the chaos surrounding her, she used her enhanced vision to find the blond boy. And she found him indeed.

To see him every bit as helpless as she was almost broke Hinata's heart. Naruto was in a state of panic the likes of which the rejected Hyuuga couldn't recall witnessing ever. She tried calling out to him. Alas, her voice was drowned out by the howling of the storm winds. Despite the futility of her actions, Hinata kept calling out to Naruto, unwilling to stop in the impossible hope that he would hear her.

The Platform of Earth crumbled under her feet, and yet Hinata didn't fall. Rather, the uncaring winds that wouldn't carry her voice carried her away instead. The shock caused her to deactivate her Byakugan. She closed her eyes and screamed. It was at that moment that Naruto saw her, and threw himself at the mercy of the cruel winds, braving the nightmarish flow to get to Hinata. But the boy had no wings, nor the power of flight, so what could he do? A familiar cross sign with his hands, and a myriad of blonds materialized in the maelstrom. As the mess of Naruto's was also being carried by the currents, the real one was making use of his clones in his attempt of getting closer to Hinata by having the clones throw him through the winds.

Have many ever wondered what being a leaf in the wind feels like? For the most part perhaps a soft breeze tends to come to mind for this metaphor. Now, imagine being a leaf in the middle of a raging storm, being violently dragged by the currents of air to wherever they may flow. Imagine the winds being so fierce that you feel like you could get ripped to pieces at any time. If you can imagine any of this, then you might have an idea of how Hinata felt.

It was too much for her. Her body, not yet fully recovered, was screaming in agony. Her closed eyes couldn't stop the flow of tears. Hinata felt lightheaded, yet she remained conscious rather than succumb to the pain, like her body was afraid of not waking up again. Just another impossible thing in a day of impossible things.

When the howling of the wind seemed to lessen, letting the sounds of thunder and lightning take center stage, she opened her eyes again. And almost immediately wished she hadn't. She saw…. something, in the sky. Whatever 'it' was, it felt… it felt like an abyss, a dark abyss that seemed to exude intent to engulf everything. The debris that was floating through the air was being drawn towards the center of the thing. And so was Hinata.

She was hit by a piece of the flying debris, the remains of a park bench. She held on to the bench as despair started to build up inside her heart. _'This is it,' _she thought. _'This is how it ends…' _ The hole in the sky must have been a doorway into oblivion. Just looking at it made you feel despair like nothing else she could remember. She was going to die.

And then she saw something orange and blond at the edge of her vision.

Naruto was also clinging to a piece of debris quite a ways off from where she was. It was a section of a wall rather than the chunk of land he was in before. He looked tired, like he had been exerting himself hard. The thought that he'd gone after her through the storm was like a slap to the face.

Naruto… he had braved the storm going after her, to save_ her._ And here she was about to give up on herself when he never did. Hadn't she promised not to go back on her word? Hadn't she promised never to give up again?

"NARUTO!" This time her voice did carry through the wind and Naruto listened. The boy immediately turned to look at her and cried back.

"HINATA! HOLD ON, I'M COMING!"

Had she intended to call back to him once more, she was stopped when the remains of the bench jerked roughly and she was being drawn to the Hole in the Sky even quicker than before. Hinata tried holding on, not wanting to be adrift like before. And then something else spiked in her perception.

She looked towards Naruto, covered in a red haze of Chakra, his face a rictus of concentration. Forming the cross seal, the area around him was covered in a dense cloud. The clouds were quickly dispersed, and soon there was a veritable horde of hundreds of Narutos in the air, all glowing with the same red haze.

The winds picked up again.

Naruto started using his clones to throw himself across the expanse.

The remains of the bench broke apart, leaving Hinata helpless once more.

More clones are formed. Naruto redoubles his efforts in trying to save her.

Hinata draws closer and closer to the doorway.

More clones are made. Naruto is getting desperate.

Hinata is nearly at the opening.

Naruto is getting there.

The last thing Hinata saw before everything went black was Naruto's outstretched hand reaching out for her own, and his eyes turning red.

She was… falling? No. She felt as, well, a feather, just… wafting. Her eyelids felt like lead, a strange tiredness permeating her body, her mind felt like it was stuffed with cotton. It wasn't dark anymore, but it wasn't too bright. The light, it was a comforting one. Not that her eyelids wanted to open at the moment to see where the light was coming from.

Seconds, minutes… well, not hours just yet, but time felt, a bit hazy nonetheless, weightless as she apparently was at the moment. Hinata was also wondering how flying felt like. Now that was a thought she couldn't quite grasp at its origins, but floating as she was, she might have perhaps imagined that maybe birds felt like this.

The thought of the flying bird jerked Hinata's thoughts to Neji and his own caged bird. She had feared that Neji would be too much for Naruto... but after seeing the determination in the blond's eyes at trying to save her... she knew Naruto was too much for Neji to handle.

Wait, where was Naruto?

She stopped floating, touching the ground, or something solid that could have been the ground. Her eyelids finally cooperated and opened. Her lavender orbs tried taking in everything around her. There was no boy with yellow hair and blue eyes anywhere. Instead, what she saw was a floor that seemed made out of stained glass, illuminating the area around her with a soft glow that contrasted with the seemingly absolute blackness beyond the stained glass floor.

Hinata started to move, the echoing of her steps breaking the silence that was prevalent in the area as she went looking for Naruto, or anyone, for that matter. For whatever reason, she didn't have the slightest feeling that she was alone at all in this place. The thought made her uncomfortable. Just as uncomfortable was the odd sense of calmness that contrasted with the situation, rather than a sense of any real danger. Strange.

Nevertheless, she had to find Naruto, and get out of this place and back… home? For some reason, thinking about home filled her with a certain dread that she couldn't quite measure. She turned her focus again on the search. She had a feeling she wouldn't like the answer to what happened to the village, even if she didn't understand that at all.

_What do you seek?_

Hinata froze on the spot. That voice she just heard, it was one that was both silent and loud at once, a paradox that shouldn't be, yet was. Just as paradoxical was the fact that the voice seemed to come from all around her and within her at the same time.

_What do you seek?_

The question was a simple one and yet it felt complex all the same, as it could have been asking for just one thing or many at once. But she knew what she wanted right now.

All at once a stairway made of stained glass appeared. Hinata moved forward, feeling an odd compulsion to go to wherever the colorful stairs led. She didn't look back once, following instead that odd sense of urgency that she felt as well.

As she climbed the stairway she tried not to think about which height she might be at, or how there weren't any sort of rails or walls of any sort to keep from falling over the sides. It wasn't too long before she made it to the next plateau. The girl saw that there was also a stained glass floor in this plateau as well, providing illumination much like in the previous one.

The biggest difference was the size. It was much larger than the last one. Another thing that caught Hinata's eyes was the picture frames. The FLOATING picture frames, hanging there seemingly in the air, no strings or anything seeming to keep them aloft, all in different positions in the area. The pictures weren't quite empty, as they had blank canvases in them.

As she was looking around, she failed to notice the steps of the ladder that brought her to this new plateau vanished behind her.

Suddenly, the blank frames started to move. The quickly aligned themselves in two consecutive rows facing one another, and several of them of them quickly encircled the girl, which in conjunction with the ones that formed rows formed a cul-de-sac formation.

And then, the light seemed to dim everywhere around her. Only the picture frames were unaffected. In the distance, however, something akin to a search light illuminated something at the very end of the long corridor of frames. It was a person, with blond hair and orange colored clothes lying on the floor.

Hinata wasted no time getting her feet to move in a sprint. But as soon as she started to run, the whispers started. She slowed down and saw that the blank canvases inside the frames were starting to be filled with silhouettes of people, familiar ones.

"_Weak."_

"_Forfeit."_

"_Useless."_

"_Give up."_

"_Failure." _

Hinata had to keep moving, whatever instinct she might have possessed all but screaming at her of this, even if she didn't understand the reasons why. The whispers were disturbing enough on their own. That they sounded like people she knew was downright chilling.

"_Weak."_

"_Forfeit."_

"_Useless."_

"_Give up."_

"_Failure."_

The whispers were getting louder as she sprinted through the corridor of floating pictures. Not only that, but the pictures where starting to become more defined, until they were no longer silhouettes, but photographic portraits.

Prominently featured were her father, her cousin, and some of the clan elders she had heard talking about her on occasion when they believed no one was listening. But her own teammates were also among the portraits, as well as some of her own classmates from the academy that used to pick on her in her first years.

She started a mad dash towards Naruto, the pictures in the portraits speaking as if they were alive, and the whispers increasing in volume, moving into normal speaking levels, and then, they were loud yells, resonating through the darkness and seemingly weighing in on her.

Hinata tried tuning them out. She couldn't falter, not now. But it was getting so hard to keep going, the voices kept going and going every step of the way, reminding her now of her constant failures, her weaknesses, telling her how useless her efforts were.

A rebellious voice within her complained about how it seemed that everyone was out to pick on her and put her down. Well, it was rather, frustrating, she admitted to herself.

The closer she got to her destination, the worse things started getting. She had maybe one third of the way to clear, but suddenly it seemed the distance increased before her eyes. The people in the portraits now seemed to jump out and try to reach at her. Her steps started faltering. That's when the people of the portraits grabbed her and started pulling her back.

No longer looking like the people she once recognized, they became less human and more like twisted caricatures out of a nightmare. Several of them were laughing, a cruel, mirthless sound that was far more terrifying than the taunts they still spoke, now in wicked, vile tones.

Like their appearance, their taunts changed as well. No longer speaking the fears of her past, now they spoke of Hinata's present failure.

"_You are so weak, how could you think you could save him?"_

"_You should just forfeit and save yourself the embarrassment. You won't reach him!"_

"_Useless girl, are you so desperate to fail that you would try something as impossible as saving this boy?"_

"_Give up. You cannot defy your fate."_

"_You are a failure, that's all you'll ever be!"_

One would think that Hinata's resolve would have wavered against the onslaught of the voices. After all, she hasn't been known for great willpower except for a few occasions, the most recent which all but got her a beating from her resentful cousin. And they would have been right. The twisted figures of the pictures dragging her away from Naruto and towards… she didn't know, but she could sense it wasn't something she wanted to know. Her tormentors were slowly but surely wearing her down. She felt cold; her blood was as ice in her veins. She couldn't even hear her own breathing; everything was drowned out by the constant torments and taunts that were all of deafening now. Even her sight seemed to become bereft of color, painting her view of the world in shades of gray. And then all of that was pushed away by one voice.

"_YOU CAN DO IT, HINATA!"_

Hinata's senses were suddenly restored, and in that instant, she pushed away the specters holding her, seemingly by WILLING THEM to let go. They didn't just let go, but burst apart into wisps of smoke. The picture frames all broke apart like they were made of nothing but glass. She dashed towards Naruto's still prone form thankfully, without any more obstacles in her way. Before she could wonder why she had heard his voice as clearly as if it had been him who spoke, the floor underneath them collapsed, and she found herself falling through darkness again.

Rather than an eternity, only a few short moments passed, and Hinata found herself in yet another unfamiliar stained glass looking floor. But when she got up and looked around, she almost wished she hadn't.

Her father, Hyuuga Hiashi, stood a distance from where she was. His normally stern face seemed as cold as frost, while his eyes burned with a flame of contempt she could never recall ever being directed at her or anyone else. And in one hand, held by his neck, was Naruto.

"Why?" He asked, his voice seemed slightly… off, to Hinata for some reason. "Why do you struggle so hard for this, this child?" Hinata unconsciously stepped back. The edges of his lips seemed to quirk up almost infinitesimally, something most wouldn't have noticed unless they were intimately familiar with his expressions, or at least as familiar as someone that did spend time observing him as Hinata did.

He stepped forward. "Do you believe because you've been lucky in getting here that you are just going to emerge victorious at your latest attempt at being useful? And for what? An orphan that has nothing to his name but the clothes on his back and a reputation as a fool who wasted his time in meaningless pranks rather than focus on his studies to be a ninja, who time and again barely even acknowledges that you exist? Is that why you are doing this, so that he will notice you?" Hiashi smirked victoriously at seeing his daughter look down, her eyes unwilling to meet with his and her body trembling in fear. "Just give-"

"**SHUT UP!"** Hinata yelled, making 'Hiashi' look aback. She hadn't been trembling in fear; she'd been trembling in _fury_. Her Byakugan blazed without the need of an activation sequence, and she took a fighting stance. "YOU AREN'T MY FATHER! I WILL SAVE NARUTO AND YOU WILL NOT STOP ME!" And with that, she dashed towards the phantom that took the form of her father to torment her, possessing every intention to Gentle-Fist it into oblivion and get the boy away.

However, the palm strike she aimed at the apparition's heart (if such a thing had one in the first place) passed through thin air as the phantom and Naruto just vanished. She caught them reappearing again on the very edge of her enhanced vision quite a distance farther from where she was now. Not waiting for any more words to be spoken by the thing pretending to be her father, she charged in another burst of speed that might have surprised her due to the state she had been in before had she not being focused on the task at hand. The light illuminating the area started to shine brighter all around her.

And then the Fake Hiashi just started to _grow._

She paused in her charge to look at the spectacle of that shadow of her father transform into a truly monstrous being that seemed to be made of shadows. 'It' now towered above her, tall as a two story building. From the glowing yellow orbs in its face to the heart shaped hole in its torso, the true form of the fiend had no semblance of the human guise it took present in its roughly humanoid body. It's 'hair' was composed of thick black tendrils arranged in a haphazard fashion, with some wrapped over the lower portion of what passed for a face like a grotesque scarf. Its arms were disproportionately long, ending in sharp parodies of hands, one of which held Naruto in its grasp.

She almost didn't dodge the other hand from flattening her as if she were but an insect (even though she was more like a mouse next to the dark aberration), and Hinata knew she needed a plan to get to Naruto without being killed in the first place. Unfortunately, her opponent was not giving her much time to create any strategies, seeing as it went and tried another swipe at her. Also most unfortunate was that she remembered that she hadn't brought her equipment pouches when she automatically tried reaching for a nonexistent kunai.

The black giant cared not for her lack of equipment or whatever plans she might make. Its luminous eyes seemed to regard its diminutive prey with… a strange sort of hunger that could not be properly described. Then, on its free hand, energy much like the hole in the sky gathered, forming an orb of power that was promptly slammed into the ground, forcing Hinata to evade and avoid getting crushed. Rather than break the ground, however, it seem like the hand SUNK into it. Faster than the blink of an eye, a dark pool of shadow covered an area around the point of impact. And from that pool, _they_ emerged.

They were barely taller than her, their hunched poses and comical appearances capped off with oversized feet and jagged antennae, twitching as if in use. Yet it was the empty light of their yellow eyes that wondered if the black giant had somehow created a spawning pool of sorts to bear its children.

And they were surrounding her.

They began to attack, their diminutive claws poised to shred her. However, their speed wasn't as great as their determination, and the young Hyuuga quickly sent a flurry of strikes to dispose of her attackers. Her chakra empowered palm strikes tore through the bodies of the shadow creatures with ease, making them dissolve into puffs of blackened smoke. This gave her confidence; if the black giant was the same as his offspring, she would be able to dissolve the arm holding Naruto's unconscious form and rescue him.

And then they reformed and grabbed hold of her, taking advantage of her surprise at watching her clan's combat style being rendered useless by the things. With her Byakugan active, she could always tell they lacked any sort of chakra network coursing through them. They looked to her as they might have looked with normal vision; shapes of black that shouldn't move but somehow did. The black giant was a huge blot to her special sight, making it hard for her to even see Naruto's network even up close. But now she was being _pulled_ inside of the pool of darkness still being generated by the giant. If the giant had a mouth, Hinata wouldn't have been surprised to see it sneer at her. However, her thoughts were focused elsewhere.

She didn't care what happened to her anymore. She had to save Naruto; that was all that mattered. She was going to save him! She struggled against her captors; she did not get here only to give up now! And then, a miracle happened.

Like a gift from the unseen heavens, a bolt of pure light struck down the pool of darkness, decimating the demons holding Hinata hostage and freeing her from being consumed. The light congealed on the palm of her hand, taking the familiar weight and form of a weapon. Instinctively, she parried a blow from the giant she almost didn't notice coming until it was too late. If she was surprised that she had deflected the attack she didn't show it. She had been given an opportunity and she would not waste it.

The giant would not have it. Energy started to gather in the cavity in his torso; it was preparing a different attack this time. It fired three bursts of energy at the impudent rodent that dared to fight back hoping to kill the girl before she attack it with her new gift. Had it been capable of making any sort of facial expressions, however, it might have looked completely flabbergasted when the girl deflected them all away. And then there was the one that was redirected straight at its face.

Had it been able to make any sort of facial expression, it might have shown a lot of pain from being struck by its own power being thrown back at itself. In a reflex, it let go of its hostage as it fell backwards, flinging Naruto away. Hinata quickly moved to catch Naruto, not wanting him to be hurt by the fall. She managed to successfully intercept him, not caring for the inconvenience of the boy being heavier than she was, or the burn caused by the friction when she slid to catch him.

The black giant got back up again. Rather than retaliate against his prey, it raised both its arms, and then slammed its fists against the very platform they stood on. The entire thing TILTED, the power behind the blow was that staggering. The two children started to slip and tumble towards the edge. He had just started to fall off the platform when Hinata grabbed his hand.

At that moment, everything went white. And then, Hinata woke up.


End file.
